The Secret in the Holiday Tale
by bamboo72498
Summary: Secret Message challenge for the Bonesology 2019 Winter project. Fun, love, and holiday cheer with our Squint Squad.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Happy December, everyone! The time for our annual Bonesology Winter Fic challenge is here. This year, it is a list of prompts that spell out a secret message. Your job is to keep reading until all the letters are revealed. No cheating!**

**Here is chapter one! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Daddy, hurry! The snow is gonna melt before we even get there!" Christine said, stomping in her boots. She was tired of waiting and eager to reach the hill and start sledding with her friends.

"Christine, I'm literally looking at the snow," Booth grunts to his daughter, trying to focus on her squirrely little brother in the booster seat before him, "and I know for a fact there is plenty for us to sled on."

"Daddy, I wanna go sleddin'!" Hank says to him, starting to slide down from his seat.

"I know you do, bud. Let's get your mittens on first, huh?" Booth says, setting Hank back into his seat. "Sit still for a second."

He grabs one little blue mitten (Brennan had refused to buy Hank the Paw Patrol ones he loved) and held it to his son's hand. "Hold your hand flat, okay?" Booth shows hank what to do: four fingers together, the thumb sticking out. The preschooler, though, has other plans, and instead of copying his dad, Hank curls his fingers in as if to give his dad a fist bump.

"No, like this," Booth says, uncurling Hank's fingers and laying them flat. He slides on one mitten and then the other and swings Hank from the car to join his sister on the pavement. "Don't move, I don't want you in the way of all these cars," he tells them before rounding the car and grabbing their sleds.

Christine takes hers and immediately takes off through the snow to meet her best friends. The boys were left stunned but trudged on. Hank managed to walk on his own the entire way even though with every step his boots sunk right down into the deep snow.

"Emma!" The draw of his sister's best friend was enough for Hank to run the last few feet and bombard Emma with a giant hug.

"Hey, Hank!" Emma smiles, hugging back. "Guys! Come here! This is Hank, he's Christine's brother." Emma's circle of friends was far and wide, and the ones who were sledding that day immediately fell in love with Hank, who looked at the big kids with his famous smile and sparkling eyes and whisked him, Christine, and Emma off to play.

Booth hung back with the other mom's and dad's, sharing coffee one of them offered, engaging in small talk.

"Oh! No, Aria! Sit down on your bottom!" One of the moms calls out to her kid, who was copying Christine by using her sled as a snowboard.

"Eh, she'll be fine," Booth shrugs, watching as Aria sadly goes back to sitting.

"Excuse me?" The mom cries, turning on Booth. "What she was doing was very dangerous!"

"Dangerous? Come on, they were playing! She was having fun," Booth says.

"What if she had fallen? What if she'd hit a rock or her head? Would that be fun then?"

"There's four and a half feet of snow on the ground, she'll get whitewashed before anything." The mom continued to argue, but Booth was done listening, instead, he walked to the girls. "Christine! Aria! Come here." When the girls get to him, both of them worried they were in trouble, Booth smiles, kneeling to be eye-level with them. "If you're gonna stand up, you gotta bend your knees. It will help you balance better."

"Thanks! Come on, Aria!" Christine shouts, running off once again.

Booth stood up and took a mental picture of the faces of the adults; some with shock, awe, and admiration, and one with fury and offense. He'd done a good thing, he knew that. Screw anyone who thought otherwise.

"Mr. Seeley!" Emma's call has him turning away so he misses Aria's mom storming off. Emma has Hank on her hip, and the little boy looks cold and sad. "Hank says he's cold."

"Okay, thanks, Emma. Come here, bud." Booth takes his son and walks back to the adults. "Well, that's why you're cold! What happened to your mittens?" The tiny fingers were red and ice cold.

"They got lost," Hank says, sticking his hands down his dad's jacket, making Booth jump a bit. "I'm cold, Daddy."

"I know. We'll go in a minute. Your sister is having fun."

"I had fun too! Emma and the big kids let me go with them and we went super fast. And I went backward!"

"Very cool, Hank."

When Christine walking up to them, breathless and asking for a drink, Booth knows it is time for them to leave. They say their good-byes, collect their sleds and head for the car.

"Aria loved standing up with me," Christine tells him. "Thanks for helping us."

"No problem, Monkey."

"How come her mommy was so mad at you?" She gets into her seat and buckles in.

"Because sometimes grown-ups don't want their kids to be kids and have fun. Aria's mom didn't want her to have fun."

"Why?"

"I don't know. There's a lot of reasons why. But, the good thing is you played with her and were a great friend. She needed that."

"Maybe we can play again sometime."

"Yeah, that would be nice. I think Emma's dad knows them. I'll ask for their number." He finishes buckling Hank in and then closes his door.

Booth is about to get in himself when movement in the corner of his eye has him turning.

"Hi," Aria's mom starts, looking down. "I'm sorry about before. I was a bit out of line."

"Eh, don't worry about it. We all worry about our kids," Booth says, shrugging it off.

"Yeah. But, I wanted to say thank you. Aria had a great time with your daughter. I haven't seen her smile like that in a long time." Something in her voice made Booth know there was darkness in the family and he knew if he got too far in, he'd have to help. "Anyway, tell your girl thanks from Aria. Hopefully, we'll see you again sometime."

"Yeah, I think you will."

The woman turns to live, but quickly stops and turns on her heels. "Oh! I found these about halfway down the hill. Emma said they were your son's." She hands over two little blue mittens. "Safety pins always worked for me." With one more smile and shrug, she leaves.

Booth climbs into the car, tossing the wet gloves onto the passenger seat. "Come on, let's go get some hot chocolate!" The kids cheer, and Booth pulls out of the parking lot. "Oh! Hank, I found your mittens!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here is the second letter of the challenge! We're throwing it all the way back to before the beginning. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The sound of voices quieted as the door closed behind her, but got louder after a few steps when the door opened again as her best friend chased after her.

"Brennan!"

She tried to keep looking forward, taking careful, even steps to her office. If she could just get there, everything would be okay.

"Brennan, come on! Hey, hold on," Angela finally caught up to her and grabbed onto her arm. "What the Hell!" She was angry, as much was written on her face, but Brennan also saw something else in her eyes.

"I told you I didn't want to be here."

"I know you did, and I'm glad you tried, but if you had stayed for longer than three seconds, you could have seen that cute lab tech from the restorations departments looking at you," Angela says, her face softening. "What are you so afraid of? Why can't you let yourself have fun?"

"I- I do have fun," Brennan stammers.

"Spending your summers in strange places looking at old bones does not count as fun, sweetie."

"Well, then I don't know what else you want from me!"

"I want you to come to the party with me! I want to dance with you, drink eggnog, and play White Elephant. I want to have fun with my best friend." Now Brennan could see that other emotion on Angela's face; it was hurt. Angela felt bad that she wasn't socializing with her.

"I'm sorry, Angela, I just can't."

"Is it really just the party? Or is it Christmas in general?"

"It's just…. everything." Brennan says, shaking her head before starting for her office again.

If she could just get there, everything would be okay.

Angela sighed; if Brennan could just let go for a moment, open her heart and spirit, life would be so much more wonderful and beautiful to her.

Angela knew the holidays were hard for Brennan, she had confided in her about her issues with the season, but this was time for joy and friendship; Angela wanted those memories to outweigh the bad ones for Brennan.

Once Brennan went around a corner, Angela went back to the party. She danced and ate and put on a happy face for everyone but she just wasn't into it anymore. Eventually, she ended up sitting at a table, watching everyone do the Macarena.

"You look like you could use one of these," Naomi from Paleontology said, handing her a cup of eggnog. "Apparently Hodgins spiked it, but I don't believe it."

Angela took a long sip, and if there was any alcohol in the drink, she couldn't tell.

[][]

Hours later, happily drunk, and not in the least bit stealthy, Angela, accompanied by an equally drunk band of scientists, walked through the darkened halls of the Jeffersonian Institute.

"Would you guys shut up! We're gonna get caught!" Naomi slurred.

"But we work here. We're allowed!" Hodgins replied, yelling. "If anyone asks, we can just tell them we're doing work."

Angela rolled her eyes, wondering how she ever called these idiots her friends. "Guys, we snuck out of a Christmas party to what? Drink beer in the bathroom like high schoolers? I think we can do better."

"We could sneak into genetics and recalibrate their centrifuges," Zack piped up. They'd reluctantly brought him along, and now they were all regretting that decision. Though Hodgins did smack his shoulder in punishment, they all ignored Zack's idea.

"We could go photocopy our butts," Naomi said with a sly smile.

"Oh my god! Yes!" Angela cheered, grabbing Naomi's hand and taking off at a run for the nearest workroom with a copier.

None of them knew if it was the alcohol in their systems, the childish energy being shared between them, or the sheer boredom of the party, but the blue light of the copy machine beckoned them and soon they were each taking a turn dropping their pants or pulling up their skirts, sitting on the machine and listening for the clicking sound of the picture being taken. They were laughing and talking and having more fun than they'd had all night. Angela stole a piece of paper and quickly made a fortune teller and starting asking everyone to play, making up wild and funny fortunes for each of them.

"Someone's coming!" Zack said, from his post keeping watch at the door.

"Get up, we gotta go!" Hodgins said pulling both girls from where they had sunk to the floor and running from the room, narrowly escaping the security guard's flashlight.

[][]

Two days had passed since the Christmas party. Snow-covered the ground, the temperatures not going above freezing, yet work still went on. Brennan and Angela had made up from their argument and were working together on another project in Angela's office when Hodgins dashed in.

"Uh, Angela? Can I talk to you?"

"Can it wait? We're kinda in the middle of something."

"No, it can't." His face and tone of voice made Angela follow him to a quiet corner of the lab.

"What?"

"This." he holds out a stack of papers, each of them with a perfect photocopy of someone's butt. "I found them on the table in the break room."

"Oh my god!" Angela shouted. "Did anyone see them?"

"I don't know how long they'd been there, but there was a small crowd when I came in."

"I am a dead woman," she said, covering her face in embarrassment.

"Or a wanted woman," Hodgins shrugs.

"Ugh!"

"They saw mine too. We're in this together, baby."

Angela knew, then and there, that she'd never live that night down.


	3. Chapter 3

There was one more day left of the semester; she only had to make it through one more day before two glorious weeks off for Winter Break. That was the mantra Ms. Mika Wagner kept telling herself as she crossed the parking lot of Foster Elementary School. Don't get her wrong: she loved being a teacher; it had been her dream career since she was little. But this year's class was driving her mad. Lots of behavior problems, every day there were at least ten fights or arguments; she'd had to take away more Class DoJo points just in this semester than she'd had to take away in her previous three years combined. And academically, this was her lowest class. Mika had had to progress monitor over half of her students, and it had been difficult to do. She was _so_ looking forward to break.

Arms loaded down with bags of materials and gifts, she somehow managed to scan her badge and open the doors. She stopped in the main office and presented the two secretaries with their gifts, which they were so happy to get, and then dropped off gifts for her principal and vice-principal, though they had not yet arrived for the day.

"Lookin' good, Logan!" Mika called to the young Resource teacher, who had come to school wearing a garish sweater with a reindeer with a glowing red nose on it.

"What can I say, I love to be festive," he replies before rounding to corner towards his classroom.

Mika smiles, reaching her door and finally setting her bags down to unlock it. Her team teacher, Becky, approaches her and follows Mika inside talking about report cards that were due the next week. The two talk right up until it was time to head out to the playground to collect their kids.

Despite the frigid weather, the kindergarteners ran wild around the playground. They were screaming and laughing and getting along for a change. Parents came up to her, handing over gifts and talking about how their kids loved being in her class so far and it made Mika blush. She hated to be the center of attention.

"Hi, Ms. Wagner!"

Mika turns at the voice, smiling at the young girl. "Hi, Christine! How are you?"

"I'm good!" Christine Booth says. Mika had student taught in Christine's First Grade class and the two had gotten very close. Both were very happy when the next school year, Mika had gotten offered a position at the school. Even better, this school year, Christine's younger brother Hank had been put into her class. "We get to watch movies all day today!"

"Wow, aren't you lucky."

"Yeah," Christine smiles. "Hank says you guys are doing some cool stuff today too."

"Eh, I have a few tricks up my sleeve," Ms. Wagner replies with a sly grin. "Have fun today, okay? And if I don't see you: have a good Christmas."

"I will," Christine says, hugging the teacher before heading to her own classroom.

A few minutes later, the bell rings and there is a rush to grab backpacks and get into line. Mika settles a fight over line leader and soon they are back inside and fully into their morning routine.

After the Pledge and announcements and getting the Star of the Week to take the lunch count to the office, Ms. Wagner pulls her kids to the carpet to start their literacy block. It may be the last day before break, and they may be having a party that afternoon, but Mika was determined to make it as routine as possible for her kids. And her sanity.

[][]

"Ms. Wagner? Did I spell this right?" Hank Booth asks, handing over his writing journal. It was later in the day, nearly time for their party, and Ms. Wagner was roving her classroom helping her kids at their last round of writing centers. Hank's group was working on adding adjectives into their sentences.

"Let's see," Mika says, taking the notebook from the boy. The sentence was clearly written, capital letter to start, proper spacing, a period at the end; his accompanying picture had at least three colors. It was great! Until the unknown word caught her eye.

'I see the big brown rainder.'

"Perfect!" Mika encourages. She knew he'd have to learn to spell it properly one day, but today was not one of them. It was a marking of this time in his life. She was going to leave it.

Mika reaches for her lanyard, pushing the button hung on it that was connected to a wireless doorbell that sang out the song telling her kids it was time to clean up. They line up at the door and Ms. Wagner leads her class down to PE and once they are happily running around the gym, she heads back to her room to set up for the party.

Parents trickle in and strike up conversations, diving into jobs to help the two Room Mom's finish getting ready. Some hand over gifts to the teacher and a few tag-along younger siblings makes themselves at home by tearing into the play kitchen and bins of math manipulatives.

Mika sneaks away to collect the kids from Spanish, and as they walk down the hallway, she prepares them for what's to come.

"So, guys. Our party is next, and some of your parents are here," She quickly quiets their cheers and happy squeals. "So when we get back to class, we're going to go sit on the carpet, okay?" And to the carpet the kids go, but not before saying hello to their parents and friends' parents and looking excitedly at the games, food and activities set out for them. "Alright, before we get started, everyone give a big silent cheer for mom's and dad's who helped out today. Especially Hannah's dad and Barrett's mom." They wave their hands for their parents, and all twenty-five of them have giant smiles. "So, we're going to do stations in our reading groups."

Once Mika sent the groups to their stations for food and games and crafts, the party had begun. Christmas music played from someone's phone and there was a constant excited chatter from her kids. Mika roved around, observing and helping, and talking with the parents.

"Mommy! Mommy! Look! I won!" Hank Booth shouted, running to his mother for a hug, brandishing a temporary tattoo as a prize.

"That's wonderful, buddy!" Dr. Brennan replies, taking the prize her son hands over and watching him run off to play Bingo again.

The party seems to go by in a flash, and soon they are cleaning up and the kids are packing up their backpacks and sitting on the carpet one last time. Ms. Wagner had taught her kids to sing 'Up on the Housetop' with sign language, so they do that for the parents and then she's releasing the bus kids to line up and letting the kids whose parents had come to the party go with them. Hank Booth's dad had been lurking in the doorway and surprises both his wife and son, who hug him before going to collect Christine from her class. The bell rings, the last of the playground pick[up kids are collected, and soon her classroom is silent.

Mika spends some time cleaning up a bit, but then collects her bag and mountain of gifts and heads back down the hallway to sign out and _finally_ start to winter break.


End file.
